His Best friend's Girlfriend
by theboyfriend-and-theprettygirl
Summary: Tyler knows that hanging around with Caroline is dangerous. She's off-limits on so many levels, not to mention she is dating his best friend Matt. Yet there is something about her that he finds so irresistible. When Caroline offers to tutor him for his final exams, he accepts. But will studying together make them realise that there is more to their relationship than just friends?AU
1. History Class

**Author's Note:**

Hey lovelies,

Just quickly, I had to write this because there are not enough Forwood fics to read now that everyone ships Klaroline.

So this is an AU story:Caroline and Tyler are humans. Only Damon and Stefan are Vampires. Bonnie is still a witch. Oh and Caroline is still dating Mat..._for now _anyways.

Please leave me a review if you like it.

Chapter two coming soon!

Enjoy!

Paris xoxo

* * *

The first time that Tyler realises that he is in love with Caroline he is sitting in History class.

Mr. Saltzman is rambling on about some war that killed almost a million people and all he can think about is how _beautiful _she looks in that light blue dress.

He knows that he shouldn't be staring; Caroline is off-limits and dating his best friend Matt. But he can't seem to pull his eyes away from her. There's something about her that makes her different from the _other _blonde bimbos that has slept his way through at their school. He can never quite figure out what makes her stand out from the rest, but all he knows is that she is _special._

He wonders how she manages to get her hair perfectly curled; not too curly like ringlets you would find on a little child, but just the right amount to keep her hair fun and_ sexy_.

No other girl before has ever captivated his thoughts like this.

Usually when he sees someone he is attracted to, he likes to picture them naked. But he can't do this with her. She's one of his best friends and he _respects_ her too much. He would never say that out loud, though, he has a_ reputation_ to uphold, after all.

"Tyler!" she whispers quietly, breaking him out of his thoughts suddenly.

"Hmmm."

"You're doing it again." She said sounding a little annoyed.

"What?" he asked quickly.

He honestly doesn't have the faintest idea about what she is going on about.

"You're _staring!" _She hissed irritably. "Stop it."

He rolls his eyes quickly when he realises that he has been caught in the act.

"You _wish_ Forbes." He said, trying to sound as cocky and manly as possible. "Shouldn't you be paying attention, anyways? This is going to be in our test."

"Ugh." She groans, before turning her attention back to Mr Saltzman.

_That was a close call_, he thinks as he starts to copy down the work from the chalkboard into his book.

/

"Tyler, Caroline can I please see you guys before your next class." Mr Saltzman said over the ringing bell. "The rest of you may go. Don't forget to study for Friday's test. Class dismissed."

Caroline is still packing her things when he approaches his teacher's desk.

"What's up?" he asked Mr Saltzman who has started to rub out his work on the chalkboard.

"Tyler, I wanted to talk to you about your grades." He said putting down the easer and dusting his hands together to rid them of the chalk.

He already has an indication of what Mr Saltzman is going to say. He hates History class so much. In fact, he finds it so boring that the hour he spends in class feels just like watching The Notebook for the _hundredth _time.

He had developed a little social experiment a couple of years ago. Much to his surprise it seemed to work on all his dates and he had continued to the tradition to this day.

To seem _more_ than the cocky, bad boy player that he was; he had incorporated watching the Notebook with his date after they ate dinner.

He absolutely _hated _that movie.

But it always helped him to get laid.

So essentially it was worth sitting through two hours of absolute torture and boredom for the end result.

History class, however was not worth it, and the one hour that he spent counting down the minutes till his next class were slow, torturous and agonising.

"Tyler." Mr Saltzman said quickly, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Did you hear what I said?"

"What?"

"You are coming last in the class, Tyler. If you fail this exam too, you will not be graduating this year with all your friends. I am going to have to hold you back."

"You can't do that." he said sneering angrily. "So what if I'm failing History…maybe if this class wasn't so boring I'd be doing better."

"Tyler, I've spoken to your other teachers and they have said the same thing. You are barely putting any effort in your classes and you are ranked very low in all of them. The final exams next week are your last chance at convincing us that you deserve to graduate."

"Tyler…." Caroline said stepping forward and rubbing his arm up and down to show her support.

"Why is she here?" he asked angrily, feeling the chunks start to rise in his throat. "Isn't she first in the class, or is she failing too?"

"I was going to see if Caroline would be interested in tutoring you."

"No." he said quickly.

"Actually, Tyler I wouldn't mind." She said smiling sweetly.

"Well too bad, because I don't need your help."

"Tyler, you're going to fail."

"So what?"

"You will have to repeat."

"Big deal." He snapped quickly. "Do you think I care?"

"Tyler, I can't stress how important your marks in your last exams are." Mr Saltzman said again.

"I don't need help." He said stubbornly, before walking out of the room without another word.

/

"Tyler, wait!" Caroline called out, catching up with him in the hall.

"Leave me alone Forbes."

"Tyler, I don't understand why you won't let me help you."

"Because, maybe I don't _need _your help."

"Actually, you do." she said, tugging on his arm.

Tyler turned around to face her. He could tell that she was really concerned about him, by the way that her face scrunched up painfully.

"Caroline, I don't know if you know this or not…but I really don't care about school or exams."

"Well you should, because you heard Mr Saltzman. If you fail, you will _repeat_."

"I don't care."

"Tyler, I don't get it. I mean, we are friends. Don't you want me to help you?"

"No."

"So you are just going to fail then?"

"Yes."

"Why? Just tell me _why _I can't help you?" she begged.

"I don't want to talk about it." he said quickly.

"Tyler, if you are worried that I will tell anyone, I promise that I won't. We can keep this a secret."

"It's not that, Care." he said softly.

He can see that she's hurt and fighting with her was not helping the situation any.

"Then what is it?" she asked begging him.

"I can't tell you. I'm sorry. But I don't need your help. Besides, I really don't-"

"Look, Tyler." Caroline snapped cutting him off suddenly. "Don't act like you don't care, because I know that you do. If you want to fail your exams then _fine, _but don't come to me later when the rest of your year has graduated to seniors and you are still in the tenth grade, okay?"

And with that she was gone. Tyler watched as she walked swiftly down the hall without another word or glance back at him.

He honestly felt like the biggest jerk right now.

/

It took sitting in Mathematics for him to realise that he had no clue about what he was copying off the board.

He _needed_ her help.

The truth was, having Caroline tutor him would have been an excellent idea, had he _not _been in love with her.

He couldn't exactly tell her why he was being so stubborn. Telling the girlfriend of his best friend that he was in love with her was wrong on so many levels. Especially when the feelings were not reciprocated. He did not want to ruin their friendship or the one he had with Matt. He also did not want to be rejected, which always seemed to hurt his ego.

Knowing that spending time with her would only deepen his feelings, he had decided to push her away. But she was right. He did care about his schooling and there was no way in hell that he was going to fail and be held back. He had way too much pride to allow that to ever happen.

At lunch time he found her in their usual hang out spot. Of course, she had to be making out with Matt, he thought miserably.

He sighed heavily, mentally counting to ten and walked over to them.

"Hey guys." He said to the whole group.

"Hi." Matt said, when he had managed to pull himself away from his girlfriend's face. "Where have you been man? Lunch is almost over."

"I had some things to do." he said, looking at Caroline who was choosing to ignore him. "Hey Care."

"Tyler." She said civilly with a hint of hostility in her voice.

"Hey, Ty are you still having a party at yours, after our final exam on Friday night?" Elena asked.

"Yes."

"Great! That's the only thing getting me _through_ this stupid exams." She said groaning a little.

"You mean, other than deciding _which_ Salvatore brother to date." Bonnie said nudging her a little. "Just chose Damon, already! I mean you dated Stefan and you still fell for his brother. Stefan will understand, you guys have been broken up for six months now."

"It's complicated Bonnie." Elena said quickly. "I want to be with Damon, but I think I might still have feelings for Stefan."

"You can't keep stringing them both on, Elena." Bonnie said shaking her head in disappointment. "You are becoming like Katherine."

"Ugh. I hate her."

Tyler shook his head. He was over listening to this conversation. He needed to speak to Caroline. The only problem was she was still ignoring him and flirting with Matt.

"Caroline, can I, uh, speak to you for a second?" he asked, running a hand through his hair nervously.

"What is it, Lockwood?"

"I have a favour to ask…it's kind of private… please?"

Caroline sighed and stood up quickly.

"I'll be right back." She said pecking Matt quickly on the lips.

They walked to the Oval together. It was still close enough for their friends to see where they went, but too far for any of them to eavesdrop.

_"So?_" Caroline asked impatiently. "What is it? And I swear to God Tyler, if this is you asking me to plan your party for Friday...I will _kill_ you!"

"Yes."

"Tyler!" she snapped angrily, throwing her hands up in the air. "We are meant to be studying, not planning-"

"Yes, you can tutor me." He said cutting her off, by grabbing onto her shoulders.

"What?" she asked quietly.

"Caroline, I need your help. I don't know anything. I don't want to fail or repeat. Can you please help me?"

"Yes." She said quickly, throwing her hands around him in a tight hug.

Tyler closed his eyes for a spilt second and took in all her different exotic smells.

The hair smelled like strawberries, he really loved it whenever she washed her hair with that shampoo. She also had a pear and grape variety as well, but the strawberry one was by far his favourite.

Today, she was wearing Britney's Fantasy. He recognised that scent immediately. She wore it all through the eighth grade. He had brought her a bottle for her sixteenth birthday.

"Tyler!" Caroline said pulling away from him quickly and blushing a little. "Did you hear what I said?"

"No, sorry."

"I'm happy to tutor you, as long as you don't tell Matt what we are doing, okay?"

Tyler frowned a little. "Okay. Why?"

"It's just, he gets a little jealous, you know." she said shifting her feet on the ground nervously and avoiding eye contact.

"Really?" he asked. "He doesn't seem like the type to be jealous of you with other guys."

Caroline blushed a little more. "Not other guys," she said, finally looking up at him. "Just _you." _

Tyler bit down onto his bottom lip to stop himself from smiling. He had no idea why this was giving him so much satisfaction right now.

"Okay, we can keep it to ourselves, Forbes."

"Awesome." She said smiling. "Well, we better get back to them or they will wonder what we are talking about."

"Care." Tyler asked, pulling her arm gently. "Why did you offer to help me? I mean, you have to study yourself and you probably don't have time to help a lost cause like me."

"You're not a lost cause." She said avoiding the question.

"No, seriously. Why did you say yes?"

"Because Mr Saltzman suggested it." she said lying quickly.

"Is that all?"

"What else is there to say, Tyler?" she asked frowning a little. "I don't want you to fail because it's important to Matt. You're his best friend and I don't want him to go onto the senior years without you."

"So you are doing this…for Matt?"

"Not just Matt." She said softly. "He is _not_ the onlyone that cares about you, Tyler."

Tyler smiled. He could tell that what she had said had been a lot for her say and he didn't want to make her anymore uncomfortable. He had gotten the answer he had wanted out of her anyways.

"So mine at four?" he asked, as they walked towards the group.

"I'll bring my books." She said smiling before walking back into Matt's waiting arms.

xx

_Reviews? xx_


	2. Ground Rules

"I think we need to set some ground rules before we start." Caroline said when they had found themselves alone in his study room.

"Okay." Tyler said laughing a little nervously. "Like what? _Don't _fall in love with you… or something?"

Caroline blushed deeply and cleared her throat quickly.

"Yes, obviously that_ too_…because… (_A) _this is _not_ my favourite movie 'A Walk To Remember' … and (_B) _Tyler, I'm dating… _your_ best friend." She said barely able to string a complete sentence together, before fidgeting with her necklace from side to side.

Tyler smiled. He knew she only played with her necklace whenever she was extremely nervous or shy. _Could it be a sign of her maybe liking him back?_

"But I meant something more like, rule number one… _no cellphones." _She said snatching his phone out of his hands quickly.

"Hey! Give it back, Forbes!" he snapped.

"You can have it _after _we are finished with our tutoring session."

"But I was sexting Summer."

"_Sexting?"_ she asked, scrunching up her face in disgust.

"Yes, it's when you-"

"I know what it is, Lockwood." She snapped angrily, rolling her eyes.

"Great! So you can give it back so I can reply to what she said."

"You can have it later. Who the hell is_ Summer_, anyways?" she asked, trying her hardest to hide her apparent jealously.

"The chick in our English class. You know, she's got the really big-"

"Never mind. I don't care." She said cheerfully, trying to change the subject.

"Give me back my phone, Caroline. I'll just say bye to her and we can start. I don't want her to think that I'm ignoring her."

"I'm sure she will _survive_."

"I want my phone. Why won't you give it back?" he asked irritably.

"Because I'm here to_ tutor_ you… you ass! Not watch you send sexy messages to girls with _fake…_ breasts!"

"How do you know that they are fake?"

"Ugh! I knew this was a bad idea." She said standing up and picking up her bag. "I'm going home."

"Wait! Care! I'm sorry." He said sighing heavily and tugging at her arm. "Please stay, you can keep my phone until we finish. I'll just reply to her after our tutoring session."

Caroline sighed and sat down again quickly.

"Rule number one…_no cellphones." _She continued rambling on. "Rule number two…_no talking about girls." _she said sneering a little.

_Or Summer…_she thought as jealousy started consume her slowly.

"Just for the record, is that because you think its distracting?…or because you are getting _jealous?" _Tyler teased.

"I'm _not_ jealous." She said a little too loudly, for her liking.

"You so are."

"Look, Tyler." she said scoldingly, as her cheeks started to burn beet red again. "We have _less_ than one week to get you up to date in _all _your classes before our exams. If you want to fail and repeat then that's fine, but I am not going to be wasting my time on you, if you are not _serious _about wanting help!"

Tyler rolled his eyes quickly. "Yes mom. Can we start now?"

"There's only one more rule." She said quickly. "No one, not Elena, not Bonnie, not Stefan, Jeremy or Damon, _no one _can know that I am helping you study, _okay?_ Because if Matt finds out we are both screwed! I don't like lying or keeping things from my boyfriend but trust me, _this _is for the best. So don't tell anyone, okay? Got it?"

Tyler nodded quickly and bit down onto his bottom lip to supress the smile that was so desperately trying to take over his face.

This was somehow the proof that Caroline had strong feelings for him as well, somewhere deep down. She just didn't know it yet. But he planned on making her see it.

He knew it was wrong of him on so many levels to be attracted to his best friend's girl; but he couldn't help it.

_What was that thing people said?_...

_You can't help who you fall in love with? _He thought.

And he certainly had no control over that. It was never his intention to want Matt's girlfriend. He never in a million years would do anything to hurt his friend and yet now he felt like the biggest jerk on the planet for even entertaining the idea of desiring Caroline.

/

"So I thought we would start with English." Caroline said optimistically, pulling out her textbooks from her school bag. "The exam is basically going to be three essays... One on the related text, which is William Shakespeare's play, The Taming of the Shrew; One on the movie Ten Things I Hate About You, which is the kind of modern adaptation of our related text and; One on a text of your own choosing. So what text have you decided on?"

"I haven't chosen one yet."

"What do you mean, you haven't chosen one _yet, _Tyler?" she asked, mentally counting to ten in her head to stop her from snapping at him rudely. "We were meant to choose a text over a month ago! What did you submit as your first essay?"

"I don't want to talk about it. I failed anyways, so it doesn't matter now."

"How am I meant to help you if you won't tell me things?" she asked hissing loudly. "What did you choose, Tyler?"

"Transformers, okay? I wrote about the _stupid_ movie and I failed badly. Don't laugh." He snapped angrily. "It's embarrassing."

Caroline bit down onto her lip to stop herself from erupting with laughter.

"You wrote about the_ Transformers'_ movie?" she asked, holding back the urge to laugh loudly in his face.

"Yes."

"Why, Ty?"

"Because I thought it was relevant to our theme."

"Our theme is about _transformation…_like the changes that people experience within themselves in order to make themselves a better person."

"Well I didn't know that."

"Clearly." She mumbled quietly.

"What's that meant to mean?" he asked angrily.

"Maybe if you listened in class, instead of _perving_ on fake boobs you would have known it."

"Again with the jealousy?! Aren't you meant to be dating Matt?" he asked hotly.

Caroline blushed and quickly rolled her eyes.

"You can use my related text." She said quickly, avoiding his question. "It's Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen."

Tyler groaned loudly. "That's so girly, Care."

"Well too bad. Beggars_ can't_ be choosers."

"Don't you have something _manlier_ that I can pass off as my own?"

"You could do Les Mis…"

"What?"

"… But that might be hard to explain to you since you haven't read the book." She said trailing off in her own little thoughts. "What about Dickens? Have you read any of his stories? Because A Tale of Two Cities or Great Expectations could also work…"

"Does it look like I even know _who _Dickens is?" Tyler asked rolling his eyes.

Caroline ignored him and began scribbling away on a piece of paper.

"What are you doing?"

"Brainstorming…shhh."

"What about?"

"About transformation texts, you idiot!"

"Emma, The Scarlet Letter, Gone With the Wind…" Tyler read out loud the list she had written on her piece of paper. "Hell no! Caroline, these are all chicks' books! Mr Rivers is never going to believe that I read one of these."

Caroline sighed heavily. "You're right. We are…"

"Come on Care, you can say it.. we are _screwed."_ he said finishing off her sentence.

"Yeah." She said burying her head into her hands. "Tyler, what are we going to do?"

/

"So tell me everything that you remember in History Class." Caroline said opening up her history book.

They had given up on studying English for the day and moved onto another subject.

"I don't know, Care." He said sighing heavily. "There's this war that Mr Saltzman said killed like about 20 million people."

"Okay. So what war was that?"

"World War… _two?" _

Caroline sighed heavily and bit back the urge to ask him if he played attention in _any_ of his classes.

"It's not the right war, is it?"

"No." she said softly. "But it's okay, because by the time I'm finished tutoring you, Tyler, you will know so much that you are going to blow Mr Saltzman's socks off."

"I'd need a miracle for that to happen, Care."

"No, you just need to learn your work. I know you're a smart guy and I have so much faith in you, Tyler. You just need the right teacher to help you remember your work and the rest is up to you." She said reaching out to squeeze his hand.

Tyler looked down at her hand on top of his and was about to respond by squeezing it back, but she had pulled it away quickly before he had gotten the chance. He watched as her face once again deepened into a deep red blush and saw how her fingers nervously fidgeted with her silver necklace.

"The way, uh, to remember the difference between the two world wars is by…" Caroline said a little flustered, before taking out a piece of butchers paper and drawing a line down the centre of it. "…remembering that World War Two was worse than any other war in History."

"But I thought World War One was called 'The War to end all wars'." He asked quickly.

"Tyler!" Caroline said softly, smiling at him. "That's so right! So you do listen in class after all!"

"I only remembered because you said it in your speech…remember?"

"You were listening?" she asked frowning a little. "But you were doodling in your book…I saw you."

Tyler couldn't tell her the real reason why he had chosen to avoid eye contact with her last week, when she presented her speech in front of their History class. He had chosen to draw in his book to seem uninterested and bored, because he feared that looking at her might show how much he actually _wanted _her. He didn't want his lingering gaze to freak her out or make her question their friendship.

"I was paying attention. I heard everything you said, Care." He said softly, before quickly changing the subject. "So why did World War Two happen then?"

Caroline frowned slightly. Tyler was acting really weird. She was so certain last week that he had been bored out of his brains during her speech and now he had admitted to listening to it all?

"There are a lot of reasons basically, but they all start with Adolf Hitler." Caroline said quickly, trying to push the thought of why Tyler was acting so weird out of her brain. "How about you tell me everything you know about Hitler?"

/

"Can you please_ stop_ snapping at me?" Tyler growled angrily.

"I wouldn't be snapping if you actually paid _attention _in class!" she snapped quickly. "This is the wrong answer, Tyler. Try again."

"I told you I don't _like_ Mathematics."

"Too bad…You need to pass this test, just like all the rest of your exams to graduate. So solve this equation." She said pushing a piece of paper closer to him.

Tyler stared blankly at the equation in front of him. He had no idea what it meant; let alone how to even attempt to start it.

"Look, I clearly have no idea _what _to do. So can you please show me how to solve it?"

Caroline sighed heavily.

"2a + 6y + 4a + 10y + 3x + 4b + 7x equals." Caroline said reading out the equation loudly. "So it looks a lot harder than what it actually is. But it's basically about grouping, Tyler. What you need to do is group all the similar letters together and then add them. So how many 'a's do we have in this equation?"

"Two?"

"Right. So we add the 2a with the 4a and we get…?"

"Six?"

"Yes, kinda... the correct answer is _6a_ though. Don't forget that the letter is equally as important. So you do that for all the other letters, grouping them together and then we re-write out our equation. That's how you solve this kind of problem."

"Wait a minute. So we don't add it all together?" he asked frowning a little.

"No, because they are different groups of letters. You only add numbers with the same letters, Tyler."

"So is the answer… 6a + 16y + 10x + 4b ?"

"YES!" Caroline shrieked excitedly. "Tyler! You got it!"

/

"So for Science I thought we should just go through my revision book. I've been making this for a while, it's pretty much everything that we have learnt in the last four years."

Tyler groaned loudly.

"Don't you groan at me, Lockwood." Caroline snapped hotly. "You wanted me to tutor you, so you asked for it."

"But four years' worth of Science, Care?" he asked grimacing. "Do you really need to start that far back?"

"We do, if you want to understand _what _we are going to be writing about in our exam, Tyler. Mrs Roberts said that the exam will test all our Science knowledge, even down to the bare basics."

"So how many pages of that book have you filled anyways?" he asked taking it out of her hands and skimming through the exercise book.

"All of it." she said smugly, before snatching it out of his hands quickly. "And just so you know, there are two _more _just like it."

Tyler groaned loudly. "Did I miss the class where we were meant to go home and write revision books for Science, or something?"

"Nope. I just decided to do it myself."

"You're telling me that you decided to do it without anyone telling you to do this?"

"Yep."

"You did this, as well as your homework?" he asked as he eyes widened in shock.

"Uh huh. I've done this to _all _my subjects, Tyler."

"Caroline Forbes, you are such a DORK!" he said laughing loudly at her.

"I am not." she snapped hotly, feeling a little embarrassed as her cheeks burned red.

"Uh, yeah you are." he said picking up her exercise book. "Classic example!"

Caroline counted to ten to calm herself before she spoke again.

"We are wasting time." she said in her best coolly collected voice that she could manage. "So let's start with atoms."

Tyler sighed and pulled down at his face with his two hands.

"Would you rather go back to studying maths?"

"No."

"So pay attention." She snapped, moving closer to him to share her exercise book. "Atoms are made of extremely small particles called Protons, Neutrons and Electrons. Protons and Neutrons are found in the centre of the atom, making up the Nucleus and Electrons surround the Nucleus. Are you following?"

Tyler shook his head.

"Okay I'll have to draw it out for you, so you understand."

"When are we going to have a break, Care?" he asked running his hand through his hair quickly. "We have been going at this for hours."

"Soon." She said drawing a circle on a piece of paper and labelling it as an atom. "So here's our atom…here's the Nucleus… These are the Protons and Neutrons that make up our Nucleus…here are the Electrons surrounding our Nucleus…" she said pointing to her diagram. "So protons have a positive charge. Electrons have a negative charge and neutrons have no charge at all."

"Caroline…" he begged.

"What, Tyler?" she huffed, placing down her pencil to look at him.

"I'm exhausted. We have been studying for over four hours can we please call it a night?"

Caroline sighed heavily.

"Fine." She hissed, gathering her books quickly. "But we have a lot of work to cover…in _all_ your subjects Tyler, not just in science and we only have a week to do it."

"I know, Care." He said honestly. "But I'm drained. It's been a long day…Coach went hard on us at practice and I'm dead tired. All I want to do is eat and forget about school."

Caroline nodded in agreement. He was right. There was no use bombarding him with information if he was too tired to really understand it properly.

"Here's your phone back." She said reaching into her jean's pocket before handing it over to him. "You should probably reply to _her_, your phone was vibrating every ten seconds, it was _gross."_

Tyler smirked playfully. He loved it whenever she was jealous.

Caroline threw her bag over her shoulder and picked up her folder.

"I hope I taught you some valuable things today. If you remember them, I'm sure you will be fine in our exams." She said, squeezing his shoulder gently, before heading for the door. "Same time tomorrow?"

Tyler nodded quickly and smiled.

"Hey Care, wait." Tyler said quickly.

"Yeah?" she asked, stopping in the doorway abruptly and turning around to face him again.

"Do you want to stay for dinner?"

Caroline laughed nervously. "Shouldn't you ask your parents if it's okay first?"

"You're joking right?" he asked rolling his eyes. "I don't even eat dinner with them. I was going to order some food. "

"Oh." She said frowning a little. "It's pretty late, I should get going."

"We could make watch a movie afterwards?"

"I shouldn't."

"Come on, Caroline. We just spent four hours studying together! Stay and eat something with me. We can watch whatever you like." He said hopefully.

Caroline sighed heavily. "Fine! But I'm choosing the movie." She said winking playfully at him.

-x-

**Author's Note:**

I really hope this chapter was not too boring.  
Sorry if you felt like you were at school being taught again or whatever.  
But it was needed to show that Caroline has been tutoring Tyler for later on in the story.

_Please leave me a review?_

Thanks.

Paris xxx


	3. Options

"So have you decided what we are going to watch yet?" Tyler asked walking into his living room carrying a big bowl of popcorn.

Caroline sighed heavily. "You know Ty, for a_ guy_ you have a really good range of _girly_ movies!" she said skimming through the titles that were surrounding her on the floor. "Dear John, Sweet Home Alabama, _The Vow_, Tyler _really?"_ she asked reading a few of the titles out loud.

Tyler couldn't help but laugh at her. Everything she managed to do was just so adorable, even when she was not doing anything out of the ordinary.

He watched as she pulled out some more DVDs from his bookshelf and searched her way through the pile.

"Where's all the macho movies that you _rave_ about at school?" she asked frowning a little. "Where's Die Hard and Unstoppable?"

"In my room." He said laughing loudly. "Come on Care, you should be in heaven with this kind of movie selection! Pick something so we can eat…the pizza is getting cold."

"Ugh! I can't decide." She said sighing loudly. "What do you want to watch?"

"What about the Notebook?"

Caroline raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at him.

"_What?"_ he asked laughing quickly. "It's like every girl's favourite movie."

"Tyler Lockwood!" Caroline said shaking her head disapprovingly. "Are you trying to _seduce_ me? Because I happen to have a great boyfriend!"

"Yeah, I know. What's your point?" he said trying his best to sound cockier than usual.

"My point is…every girl at school knows that you play _the Notebook _on your dates to help you get _laid._"

"What?"

"Don't even try to deny it, Lockwood." She snapped quickly.

"How do you know that?"

"Girls talk." She said winking at him playfully. "I hear everything in the locker rooms. You guys have no idea the things we find out about you…and_ FYI_ Tyler, just because you _own_ the Notebook and play it on your dates doesn't mean that you are a _sensitive_ guy! Girls see right through your "sweet" side, buddy. You are _not _fooling anyone."

Tyler scoffed loudly. "I bought the Notebook because it's my mom's favourite movie and yes I've seen it a million times…every girl chooses to watch it whenever they go through my movie collection… but I don't do it to help me get _laid._" He said lying quickly and avoiding her eyes.

Caroline rolled her eyes. She knew that they were both too stubborn to admit defeat and that they were both capable of keeping this fight up for hours. So she intended on ending it now. The pizza was getting cold and she promised her mom that she would be home by nine.

"Where's _A Walk to Remember?_" she asked changing the subject.

Tyler groaned loudly. "I don't know. It should be in the pile somewhere. We are not really going to watch _that_ are we?"

"You said that I could pick the movie."

"But that movie is the worst!" he moaned. "I would rather watch the Notebook or paint dry off a wall."

"It's my favourite movie, Tyler!" she said defensively.

"I know. You don't shut up about it! It's really annoying actually."

Caroline shot him a dirty look quickly and he sighed heavily.

"I hid it under the couch when you were calling your mom." He said walking over to retrieve the hidden DVD. "I guess I'll just start it then."

Caroline stood up and took the popcorn bowl out of his hands. "That would be lovely." She said before getting comfortable on the long leather couch.

"This movie is seriously depressing, Care! The girl has Leukaemia and _dies_ at the end! What is so good about it to make it your favourite movie?"

"It makes me believe that love can _change_ people, Tyler!" she said throwing her hands up in the air defensively. "Landon was the biggest jerk before he started spending time with Jamie and when he fell for her, he became a better person. Jamie's love changed him into a decent man."

"So essentially you like the idea of bad boys falling in love with the good girls?" he asked smirking a little.

"Yes." She mumbled between a mouthful of popcorn. "It's romantic."

Tyler was definitely loving how close the similarities between their relationship and the movie were. Caroline Forbes was definitely what you would call a _good girl _and he was renowned for being the player, the jerk, the typical _bad boy. _

Somehow what she had said about love changing people had given him some hope, that one day she would see past all his different covers that he hid behind to seem popular and tough; and realise that he too was like Landon.

After all, he too was just a guy, waiting for the _right _girl to change him into the better version of himself that he wished to be. There was no doubt in his heart that Caroline was that person for him. The only thing that was stopping him from being with the girl he was madly in love with was Matt.

"Quick, the movie is starting." She said snapping him out of his thoughts.

Tyler quickly turned off the lights and took a seat next to her on the couch. He sighed heavily as the movie credits loaded and wrapped his hand around her.

"Hey, no funny business." She hissed quickly, shooting him a dirty look before turning her attention back to the movie.

"I was just stretching." He said innocently. It was a terrible lie but it seemed to work.

/

"_Jamie…I love you. Okay, now would be the time to say something."_

"_I told you not to fall in love with me."_

Tyler rolled his eyes and quickly looked over at Caroline who was wiping her tear-stained face with the back of her hands.

"Why are you crying?" he whispered. "She hasn't even died yet, Care."

"Ugh! You are such a _guy!" _she snapped ignoring his question.

Tyler laughed and pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and embracing her in a tight, comforting hug.

/

"_Jamie: I'm sick._

_Landon: I'll take you home. You'll be better tomorrow…_

_Jamie: No, Landon! I'm sick. I have Leukaemia _

_Landon: No. No, you're 18. You're perfect._

_Jamie: I found out two years ago and I've stopped responding to treatments._

_Landon: So why didn't you tell me?_

_Jamie: The Doctors said I should go on and live life normally as best as I could. I-I didn't want anyone to be weird around me._

_Landon: Including me?_

_Jamie: Especially you! You know, I was getting along with everything fine. I accepted it, and then you happened! I do not need another reason to be angry with God."_

"Tyler, are you-_ crying?_" Caroline asked loudly, hitting pause on the movie quickly to look over at Tyler.

"No." he said sniffing a little.

"Oh my goodness! You are! No wonder you don't like watching this amazing movie!"

Tyler had seen this twice movie before. He had seen it with his mom when he had bought it for her on DVD. She had seen it at cinema with some of her girlfriends and loved it so much that she made him watch it with her. He had spent the whole time texting some girl that he couldn't' remember now, never really paying any attention to the film.

The second time he had seen it was in English class at the end of the year. Caroline had brought the movie for the end of year party and he had sat in the back with Matt and the boys, laughing at all the girls as they cried their eyes out, throwing popcorn and lollies at their heads as they sobbed.

This was the first proper time that he was actually watching the movie, hence the reason for the tears. With no boys here to make fun of him, he could actually understand why girls became so emotional while watching it.

"Do you want a tissue?" Caroline asked holding the box towards his face. "I knew you had a big heart in there somewhere, behind your macho-manly front that you put on to see popular."

"Whatever Forbes." He scoffed, rolling his eyes playfully. "Can we just finish this depressing movie already?"

/

"Thank goodness that movie is _over!_" Tyler said stretching on the couch as the end credits rolled.

Caroline opened her mouth to say something cheeky, closed it quickly and smiled instead.

"_What?"_ he asked laughing loudly. He could tell that she was holding back from telling him something funny.

"It's nothing." She said biting down onto her lip and wiping her tear stained face with her hands. "Never mind."

Tyler rolled his eyes quickly. "Spit it out, Forbes…I know you are dying to_ tease_ me somehow."

"Fine." She said excitedly, turning to face him on the couch. "It's just you cried _more_ than me, Tyler."

Tyler laughed loudly. There was no point denying it, because it was absolutely true. He had never seen the movie from start to finish before without being distracted; and had it not been for him trying to impress Caroline, he probably wouldn't have paid any attention to it for the third time.

"If you tell anyone at school that I cried, I will _kill_ you."

"Oh, I plan on telling _everyone." _She said giggling a little. "Especially Summer."

"They will never believe you." he said hotly.

"Actually they will." She said reaching behind her for the cell phone. "I filmed some of it."

"You filmed me CRYING?" he asked loudly.

Caroline bit down onto her bottom lip and nodded, before hitting play on the video.

"When did you do this?"

"When you were sobbing, you goose." She said giggling. "This is just the proof I need to back up my story when I tell everyone."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh I would, Lockwood and it will give me great satisfaction to play a part in undermining your manly macho reputation." She said sticking out her tongue.

"If you show that video to anyone... _including_ Matt…" Tyler said leaning in closer towards her, until their faces were inches apart. "I will tell everyone that you kissed me _back_ and liked it."

_"What?_" she asked, frowning a little, before his lips came crushing down onto hers.

Caroline moaned loudly as Tyler deepened the unexpected kiss. She knew what they were doing was so wrong, but she didn't have the willpower to push him away, nor did she actually want to. He was right, she was liking it. A little too much to her honest surprise.

Tyler was an excellent kisser. Much better than Matt had ever been. The kiss was something that she had never experienced before in her life. It was passionate, hungry and urgent. She never wanted it to end.

Caroline opened her mouth a little wider, allowing Tyler to explore inside her mouth further. She moaned loudly when his tongue found hers, circling it with his own.

She wanted him so badly. She couldn't take it anymore.

Caroline pulled him closer by his shirt collar and bit down playfully onto his bottom lip. Her hands worked hard to unbutton his shirt. Tyler moaned loudly, the sound emitted was similar to a cage animal that was being tortured from behind bars. She couldn't help but laugh against his lips. He was so damn cute and he was driving her insane.

Tyler pulled apart from some air and Caroline felt her heart dropped a little. He braced himself for the lecture he was expecting to hear from her, but nothing happened. He looked at her disappointed face and wondered if she was just in shock; if what they had just done had not sunk it yet for her.

He was taken aback by surprise and delight when her lips found his again in another hungry kiss.

Tyler could not believe his luck. He was finally kissing his dream girl and she was actually kissing him back! He still could not believe it.

Every time that he had pictured kissing Caroline in his head, it had always ended with him getting slapped or her telling Matt. He had never imagined that she would actually kiss him back or pull him closer.

She was driving him wild. He wanted to kiss every inch of her body and make passionate love to her right _there_ on the couch. But she deserved better than that. She was not some girl that he enjoyed seducing for the day and then dumping the next.

_She was different. Caroline was special._

She was the girl that made him want to be a better man. She was the only person that had managed to make him fall in love with, despite never having to date or sleep with her. She was the person that changed him and inspired him to do greater things.

_She was also Matt's girlfriend,_ his head said haunting him cruelly, causing his heart to sink heavily. And as nice as it was for her to be trying to unbutton the rest of his shirt right now, he knew what they were doing was so wrong.

Tyler pulled away quickly and Caroline gave him a confused look.

"You should go." He mumbled running his fingers through his hair. "I shouldn't have kissed you...I'm sorry."

Caroline nodded a little stunned, her heart breaking from a mixture of rejection and hurt. She stood up from the couch quickly and gathered her things.

"I uh-just have to call my mom." She said quietly, reaching for her phone. "She dropped me off here before, I didn't bring the car."

"I'll drive you home." Tyler said placing his hand on top of hers quickly, to stop her from dialling her mom's number.

"It's okay, she said she didn't mind picking me up."

"Care, its fine." He said, insisting on it. "I'll get my keys."

/

They rode in silence for most of the way. Neither saying a word other than the time when he asked if she wanted the air-con on and whether she was too cold.

Caroline rested her head against passenger's window the whole ride, looking out at the dark trees and the way their branches swayed slowly back and forth against the gushing wind.

Tyler gripped the steering wheel harder than usual. He hated the way that things were between them now. He never knew what to do when he found himself in awkward situations like this.

He contemplated apologising to her again. But she had not said anything to his first apology, so what was the point? A part of him was dying to ask her if she was going to tell Matt, but at the same time he was _dreading _her answer. Hurting his friend was the last thing that he wanted to do.

Caroline could not wait for the ride home to be _over_ already. The tears she was trying her hardest to hold back were starting to burn her eyes. She knew that she was seconds away from exploding and crying hysterically, and she did not want Tyler to see her like that.

She couldn't quite pin point the way she was feeling right now. _Hurt? Rejection? Guilt? Disappointment?_

She knew she had just technically cheated on her loving and amazing boyfriend; but she was she hurt from what she had done to Matt or from the way that Tyler had just discarded her?

Tyler turned the corner into her street and Caroline counted down the remaining seconds until she could hop out of the car and run inside her house and cry.

"Thanks for the lift." She mumbled quietly, unbuckling her seatbelt quickly when he had pulled into her driveway.

"No problem." He said smiling. "I'll see you at school."

Caroline avoided his eyes and nodded, without saying a word. She reached for the door handle to open the door, but Tyler reached out for her hand.

"Care, wait."

"Tyler…" she said pleadingly, looking at him for the first time since their kiss with foggy eyes. "It's late, I should go."

"Are you going to tell Matt?" he asked closing his eyes for a brief second in guilt. "Because don't, it should come from me, I was the only that kissed you. It wasn't your fault, Care."

"Why did you kiss me, Tyler?" Caroline asked her voice just above a shaky whisper.

Tyler ran a hand through his hair nervously, contemplating whether to lie or to tell her the truth. He didn't know what was worse, let alone what she would prefer to hear right now.

"I don't know." he said lying quickly.

"Tyler..." Caroline said slowly, hesitating for a moment. "I don't think I can tutor you anymore. I'm sorry."

"Caroline…"

"I'll ask Mr Saltzman to find you another History tutor and I will give you some notes for the English essay but I can't help you after that."

"Care...please…"

"Tyler…" Caroline said as a few tears rolled down her cheeks. "Matt is the best boyfriend I've ever had and he is your best friend…we can't hurt him, okay? I'm sorry, Ty."

And with that, before he had even had a chance to agree with her, she was out of his car and halfway up her porch, rummaging inside her bag for her house keys.

/

"There you are!" Matt said standing up from the living room couch and heading towards her when she had stepped inside her house.

"Matt? What-_ what_ are you doing here?" she asked a little startled when her boyfriend embraced her in a tight hug.

"I thought you would be a lot happier to see me, Care." He said disappointedly, laughing a little nervously.

"Of course, I am babe." She said embracing him tighter. "I just thought that you were working tonight, that's all."

"I was, but I got off early so I could see you. Your mom let me in and told me to wait in case you needed a lift. She got called into work about a half hour ago, she told me that you might call to be picked up."

Caroline forced a smile and started in the direction of the staircase upstairs.

"So…_where_ were you?" Matt asked taking her bag off her shoulders and carrying it upstairs for her.

Caroline heart sank a little. He was always a very thoughtful boyfriend and always carried her things for her. She loved the little things he did like that in their relationship. He really was the best guy that she had ever date and she hated herself right now for kissing another guy, especially the guy who was his best friend!

"I was at Elena's with Bonnie." She said lying so quickly without even a second's hesitation that she actually surprised herself.

"Jesus Care, what the hell is in this bag? _Bricks?_ It's so heavy babe."

"Books. We uh, were studying for our exams."

"I saw Elena and Damon at the Grill." Matt said frowning a little. "Your mom said that you were at Tyler's. Did you go over to plan the party next week?"

"I was with Elena first but then she ditched me for Damon, so I went over to Tyler's with Bonnie...to you know, check on the party preparations."

Caroline felt so horrible having to lie to her boyfriend but she knew that telling him the truth would only devastate him. She needed to talk to her girls first, before she even mentioned the kiss to Matt. Hopefully Tyler would not say anything to Matt in the meantime. She would have to text him later.

"So we have the house to ourselves for a bit." Matt said pulling her into his arms and starting to trace kisses along her neck once they had reached her bedroom.

Usually under any other circumstance she loved it when her mom spent all-nighters at work, as it meant that Matt could spend the night and sneak out in the morning before school without her mom ever knowing.

"I'm actually so tired." She said faking a loud yawn and walking over to her windows to close the blinds.

"I'll go then babe. It's okay. I just wanted to make sure that you made it home safely, you know, wait unless you needed a lift." He said sweetly, kissing her cheek and heading for her bedroom door.

"Matt…" she said shutting her eyes quickly for a second. "You can stay the night."

She felt guilty to send him away when he had done nothing wrong. She realised that she was punishing him for her own mistakes.

"But your mom…wouldn't she-?" he asked trailing off.

"I just texted her to tell her that I got home safely and she told me that she is working through the night. She won't be home until the morning." Caroline said checking her phone.

Matt smiled and walked back inside her room.

"Make yourself comfortable…I'm just going to the bathroom." She said smiling a little before walking into her ensuite bathroom and closing the door behind her.

As soon as the door was closed and locked, Caroline placed a hand over her mouth to cover the sobs and started to cry.

/

Tyler couldn't believe that it had taken reversing out of Caroline's driveway to see Matt's pick-up truck. It had obviously been there the whole time because it was empty and parked in front of her house. And Matt was nowhere to be seen.

He had also come to notice that Sheriff Forbes was not home, judging by the fact that her police car was not parked in the driveway in its usual spot.

Consumed by a burning jealous he had never experienced before in his life, Tyler parked across the road to Caroline's house and watched as her bedroom light lit up and two shadows danced along the walls. Well that was until she had closed the blinds and he was left staring at the spot where the shadows had been.

Tyler started the engine and was about to drive off when his phone beeped loudly, signalling a new message. Expecting it to be from Summer, he ignored it until another beep told him that another message had just come through. He reached for his phone and sighed. It was from Caroline.

_Tyler,_

_Matt's here…_

_I don't know whether I will tell him or not._

_I feel really guilty. _

_But I've decided that if he is going to find out, it's going to have to be from me. So please do not saying anything to him._

_-Care._

Tyler texted back just the word _'ok' _and checked the other message.

_So you never got back to me sexy._

_My parents are away tonight, they have a conference in New York.._

_You coming past? _

_Summer xoxo_

Tyler drummed his fingers against his steering wheel. He had two options. He could either head home and be miserable in the Mansion, thinking about Caroline and Matt possibly having sex right now in her empty house; or he could swing past Summers and do the same.

xx

**Author's Note:**

_Please leave me a review? I really don't know how I feel about this chapter._

_Paris xo xo xo _


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